AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A bacteriophage is a type of virus that infects bacteria. In fact, the word “bacteriophage” literally means “bacteria eater, ” because bacteriophages destroy their host cells. All bacteriophages are composed of a nucleic acid molecule that is surrounded by a protein structure.

Detailed explanation-2: -More common, but less understood, are cases of viruses infecting bacteria known as bacteriophages, or phages.

Detailed explanation-3: -A bacteriophage (/bækˈtɪərioʊfeɪdʒ/), also known informally as a phage (/ˈfeɪdʒ/), is a duplodnaviria virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea.

Detailed explanation-4: -The virus which infects bacteria is called as Bacteriophage.

Detailed explanation-5: -Bacteriophages in nature Thousands of varieties of phage exist, each evolved to infect only one type or a few types of bacteria. Like other viruses, they cannot replicate by themselves, but must commandeer the reproductive machinery of bacteria. To do so, they attach to a bacterium and insert their genetic material.